1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the exchange of financial information over a global communication network. More particularly, the invention relates to centrally storing financial information received from mobile users and subsequently providing that information back to the respective users so that it can be integrated into the users' personal finance software.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer-based record keeping of financial information by individuals has been extremely popular in recent years. With improvements in, and the wide-spread increase in the popularity of, personal computers, more and more individuals have begun using home desktop computers to compile their financial records. Today, software packages for use on personal computers allow users to track their investments and loans, bank and pay bills online, monitor expenditures, create detailed financial reports and prepare tax returns. One such personal finance application is Quicken® deluxe 98 manufactured and sold by Intuit, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. The various features of this software package are fully described in the software user's manual entitled “Getting More from Your Money,” 2nd printing (Intuit part number 250036) published in October 1998, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The use of personal finance software has enabled users to more effectively control their finances which, naturally, leads to more efficient utilization of personal resources. For example, by monitoring monthly expenditures on dining, automobile-related expenses, utilities and/or healthcare, individuals are now, more than ever, capable of controlling such expenses. Moreover, individuals using personal finance software are more capable of predicting their financial obligations well into the future. Accordingly, individuals can now better predict whether they have the financial wherewithal to fulfill the obligations associated with potential financial transactions. These and other benefits of using personal finance software on home computers has yielded a virtual revolution in the ability of individuals to control their personal finances.
A number of deficiencies associated with such personal finance applications, however, arise from the facts that most personal finance applications are customizable and are resident on personal computers that remain stationary in the user's home. Generally, a user defines a particular financial profile (i.e., the personalized set of values selected to, at least in part, define a user's own financial model) when using a personal finance application. This financial profile describes the user's financial relationships and obligations, assets and other modalities by which the user creates or describes financial transactions. By way of example only, one financial profile parameter may describe the types of accounts utilized by an individual. Some of the possible values for the account parameter may include a checking account, a savings account, a credit card account, a money market account, a liability account, a bills/payables account, an asset account, an invoice/receivables account, a cash account, etc. Numerous other examples of financial profile parameters and parameter values are disclosed herein and others will readily occur to those of skill in the art.
While the above-discussed attributes of personal finance software packages offer many advantages to users, they also virtually inescapably lead to the limitation that, in order to input financial transaction information, a given user must have access to the computer in the user's home. In part, this is because, once customized, the financial profile of each user's personal finance application is unique. For example, each profile may include a different set of accounts, categories and, often, classes to permit the user to more efficiently organize transactions. Similarly, each value in each set of accounts, categories and classes can have a user-specified name. Moreover, insofar as a given personal finance application will, at any point in time, contain an accumulated amount of previously inputted financial information, users cannot practically utilize personal finance applications other than their own. Accordingly, a user who wishes to use a personal finance application must, as a practical matter, return to the same computer each time new transaction information is to be added to the application.
This deficiency leads to the possibility that delays in entering information will yield errors in the inputted transaction information, or worse, will lead to omissions to enter such information entirely. For example, a user on a day-long shopping trip will typically purchase items at a number of different stores, stop for gasoline and dine out twice before returning home. When the user finally gets the opportunity to access the user's personal computer to enter the transaction information for the day, the user may have forgotten some details of a given transaction or may have entirely forgotten about some transactions. Such errors may not be corrected, if at all, until much later. Therefore, such errors will skew all further financial analyses and reports which rely on the integrity of the information entered into the personal finance software.
Deficiencies of the general nature discussed above, are particularly acute when the user is away from home for an extended period of time such as while on a vacation or business trip. In cases such as this, when a user's personal computer may be inaccessible for weeks on end, the likelihood of compromising the integrity of the user's financial records increases markedly. For example, a week-long vacation easily could result in dozens of financial transactions totaling thousands of dollars. Obviously, significant delays in recording such transactions can have a substantial impact on the quality of the information subsequently entered into and retrieved from a personal finance application.
Attempts have been made to reduce the chance of erroneous entries being made in personal finance applications by increasing the timeliness with which transactions are recorded. For example, the advent of personal digital assistants (“PDA”), such as the Palm Pilot® made by 3Com, Inc. of Milpitas, Calif., can now be used to promptly record personal financial transactions as long as a user has a PDA at the time of a given transaction. In particular, personal finance software designed to integrate with, and to complement, companion software on a home-based personal computer is now available for PDAs. With a PDA and such software, a user simply enters financial transaction information on the PDA and, upon returning home, downloads the recorded transactions into the user's personal computer. Since such PDA software products are compatible with the desktop version of the personal finance software, they enable users to capture checking, credit card and cash transactions while on the road. Naturally, such systems have increased the accuracy of personal financial record keeping.
The use of PDAs, however, has not entirely solved the problems of erroneous and/or omitted entries because, for example, there are a significant number of individuals who do not have PDAs. Thus, individuals who dislike PDAs and/or who are unwilling to bear the often significant expense of purchasing and using a PDA continue to be plagued by the above-described deficiencies. Moreover, attempts to enter financial transactions on a PDA can be thwarted if a user inadvertently leaves the user's PDA at home or if the user's PDA is damaged in some way.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for alternative systems, methods and related software products for recording personal financial transactions by individuals who do not have immediate access to their personal computers.
There remains an additional need in the art for alternative systems, methods and related software products which are capable of (1) temporarily storing financial information provided by a plurality of users while preserving the confidentiality of each user's information; and (2) permitting those users to subsequently retrieve the stored information so that it can be integrated into the user's personal finance software.
There remains yet another need in the art for alternative systems methods and related software products of the type described above which offer users an optimal combination of simplicity, reliability, efficiency and versatility.